Some 1,500 people, according to the Mossos, mobilized yesterday Friday in La Seu d’Urgell to demand a reduction in rental prices and decent living conditions in the Pyrenees. Called by the Pirineo Viu platform, the day of protests culminated with a demonstration that began on Paseo Joan Brudieu and traveled through several streets of the capital of the Alt Urgell region.
Forty organizations and political parties have supported the protest, which sought to highlight the problems that young people have in staying to live in the Pyrenees. The day chosen was not random either, since the Purísima bridge is when the winter tourist season kicks off.
The organizers of the mobilization consider that a point has been reached in which workers are being “expelled from the Pyrenees” because housing is “kidnapped by speculators and tourist apartments.” The march included the participation of people from all over the Catalan Pyrenees, from the Vall d’Aran to the Berguedà region and also from Andorra, with the aim of visualizing that it was a “country mobilization”.
The demonstration was the highlight of a day full of family-related protest activities and also talks. According to Pirineu Viu, young people are increasingly finding it more difficult to live in the Pyrenees due to precarious jobs, which they consider to be linked to the tourism sector, and also due to the rise in housing prices. Furthermore, they warn that it not only affects youth, but also people who must move from Andorra to La Seu d’Urgell to be able to live or others from Cerdanya who must go to Berguedà, and also from Vall d’Aran. towards the Pallars Sobirà and Jussà.
As solutions to the problem, they propose a diversification of the economy to generate “stable, quality work,” since they believe that betting everything on tourism “is dangerous.” Regarding housing, they demand three specific measures that would involve regulating rental prices; a limitation and control of tourist apartments; and an immediate stop to all evictions.
Festive demonstration, without incidents and with slogans against the tourist model
The demonstration had the support of about forty organizations from the world of culture, environmental, feminist, labor groups, housing unions, the coordinator of decent housing in Andorra, centers and athenaeums of the Pyrenees. Also Unió de Pagesos, the Sindicat de Llogateres and the Catalan Assembly for the Ecosocial Transition and parties such as the CUP and the Commons.
The demonstration left a few minutes after six in the afternoon from the Joan Brudieu de la Seu d’Urgell promenade. It was done with a festive atmosphere and without incident while the protesters, coming from all over the Pyrenees but also from other parts of the country, mingled among some of the many tourists who are present these days in the Seu d’Urgell. Performances have been held to highlight the “abuses” of the elites in housing prices and slogans have also been shouted against the tourism model of snow and second homes.
After passing through different streets in the capital of Alt Urgell, the march headed towards the N-260 until the roundabout that connects with the N-145, so traffic towards Andorra and Cerdanya was cut off for half an hour. At this point, four tractors brought by members of the Unió de Pagesos made an appearance, thus wanting to show their support for the cause of the mobilization. The protesters then headed back towards the city center until they reached the Town Hall Square, where parliaments and musical performances were held.
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